Spending his whole life in Buenos Aires, Argentina has made Federico B. Gonzalez worn out of the city life. Its fast-paced lifestyle was no longer as exciting as it used to be for the 34-year-old Industrial Design graduate.

Federico, together with his girlfriend Ailin, have always wanted to escape the bright lights to enjoy the wonders of nature. “We’d love to live near nature, especially by the mountains and lakes,” he said. However, doing so wasn’t possible since he had to work and earn a living.

He worked as a team leader for an Italian industrial design studio. To earn extra money for his everyday expenses, he worked part-time on Freelancer. The numerous industrial design projects he found convinced him to choose the platform among other similar options.

After a year of working part-time, he left his day job and worked solely as a freelancer. “When I noticed that my part-time earnings on Freelancer were as much as my nine-to-five job’s monthly salary, I left the design studio to pursue a career online,” he said.

Federico has been hired numerous times and has made thousands of dollars on the platform. Most, if not all, of his projects, involved designing 3D product mockups for clients.

In his four-year career on Freelancer, one monumental project he worked on was with a US-based employer who needed a 3D model of a new tablet. “I was behind the tablet’s design. All the employer asked was that the tablet should be able to stand on its own,” said Federico. “I made some rough sketches of the design, then uploaded it on my PC’s rendering software.”

Federico completed the US$3,300 project in 10 days. It was an unforgettable project for him because the money he made was used to purchase the first set of materials for building his dream house.

“I am having a house built in San Martin de los Andes, Patagonia Argentina. A land full of beautiful lakes, mountains, and a never-ending sea of clouds. Plus, the snow there is heartwarming.”

“Ailin and I will be living in this sanctuary and are excited to call it our home. With the limited opportunities of getting a good high-paying job in a small community, I’ll have to rely on my Freelancer projects for us to get by. Without Freelancer, this paradise would have just remained an imagination.”